Insist on Honesty In School Statistics

January 27, 2013

Officials in some of Ohio's biggest school districts, including Columbus, were caught lying about student attendance numbers last year. They were inflated to make the school systems appear to be doing a better job than actually was the case.

State Auditor Dave Yost launched an investigation of districts throughout the state, with the goal of learning how prevalent is the practice of "scrubbing" data. Preliminary indications show lying about the numbers is not uncommon.

Yost plans to release his report on Feb. 11. Though no East Ohio school districts were included in the investigation, area residents should pay attention to what Yost found.

So should school officials in this area. They, too, should be checking into how education administrators prepare reports on student achievement. Methodology used by the auditor's office may be helpful locally, to ensure East Ohio residents are being told the truth about school quality.